operating system

The Google-made software experience known as Android Wear is made for wearable smart devices like watches. Revealed earlier this year, Android Wear will be created for devices with circular or square displays, at first catering to those that will be worn around your wrist. This week Google has revealed a number of screens which give us insight on what Android Wear will look like.

If one thing is to be understood about Apple’s method of selling smartphones, it’s that they’ve got one big brand that works: iPhone. According to the latest Kantar Worldpanel ComTech sales data - for the three month period ending in March of 2014 - Apple has "bounced back" this quarter after loosing some ground in the quarter before. This is due largely, he suggests, to the release of the iPhone 5s.

Starting today, users all around the world will begin to gain access to Windows 8.1 Update. This is the first major update to the Windows 8.1 system, a re-structuring of what was originally offered in the touch-friendly Windows 8. This update will be accessible through Windows Update primarily, a system which you can access by moving your cursor to the bottom-right of your display or by pulling in from the right of your display if you have a touchscreen PC or tablet.

Supposing you’re one of the last users of Windows XP out there in the universe, you’ll want to make sure you understand the implications of continuing to use that operating system after tomorrow. Tomorrow, after all, is the last day Microsoft will be offering technical support for Windows XP for the public. After that, it’s all about Custom Support for Windows XP.

It would seem that Microsoft is aiming to become a much more integrated system this season with what they’re calling "universal Windows apps." Speaking for "a platform for today and tomorrow" this week at BUILD 2014, David Treadwell, CVP of Microsoft’s Operating Systems Group made the case clear.

It hasn't been that long since the last iOS update was launched by Apple. The update to iOS 7.1 brought with it a number of features and fixes. Among the new features was support for CarPlay and other tidbits. One of the things about the versions of iOS that some didn’t like was the use of lots of animations.

A number of screenshots taken with an iPhone have leaked additional verification of several future apps for the platform this morning. These shots were taken by Weibo microblogger TD Beta, a leakster who has (in general) provided well-sourced content in the past. In general, the takeaway here is not that we’re seeing finalized icon delivery, but that these apps exist.

This week the folks behind the smartphone hardware and software brand Jolla have decided they’d be invading the world through Android. Before Sailfish 1.0 is launched across the whole world with smashing success, the company has decided they’d be rolling in a way for users on Android (the most common OS out there today for phones) to test their Jolla-made bits. This test will come in the form of a launcher.

A leak of a smartphone that looks awfully similar to the Samsung Galaxy S4 has been shown off in press photo form this morning. This device is tipped to be rolling with a 4.8-inch display with WXGA (1280 x 720 pixel) resolution as well as a 2.3GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor. Under the hood is the first real-deal market-ready iteration of Samsung's own Tizen for 2014.

This week the folks at Valve have introduced a new Beta release - the second of two so far, that is - of SteamOS. This operating system is delivered in an ISO file, coming now with the ability to install to non-UEFI systems. This update includes work done by the developers known as directhex and ecliptik who created the system called "Ye Olde SteamOSe".